


Unbelievable

by ArgyleMN



Series: Seth Levine/Jessica Parker - Canon Universe One Shots [1]
Category: Red Carpet Diaries (Visual Novel)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24498280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgyleMN/pseuds/ArgyleMN
Summary: Watching football for the first time with Jessica during the playoffs is an interesting experience for Seth. Set around Chapter 11 of Red Carpet Diaries book 2.
Relationships: Seth Levine/Main Character (Red Carpet Diaries)
Series: Seth Levine/Jessica Parker - Canon Universe One Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769938





	Unbelievable

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t really self-insert with my MCs, but I usually share one or two traits with them. Well, Jessica Parker and I share a love of football passed down from our fathers. Since she comes from Iowa, and they don’t have a NFL team there, she had three real options for her team pulling from the surrounding area - the Green Bay Packers, the Chicago Bears, and the Minnesota Vikings. Naturally, I selected my own love, the Vikings, for her.

Seth had known Jessica was a Minnesota Vikings fan, at least in theory. On Sundays this fall, he’d seen her in a Vikings t-shirt or an Adrian Peterson jersey. But he’d never watched a game with her, at least until today.

Truth be told, he never really cared about football. Maybe it was a side effect of growing up just outside of Cincinnati and therefore having to root for the _Bengals_ , but Caleb was a pretty avid OSU fan, so there went that theory. At the end of the day, sports weren’t really Seth’s _thing_. With what he knew about Jessica, he’d assumed they weren’t really hers either.

But it turned out, football was very much Jessica’s thing. He had thought it was a little strange when she said she couldn’t go to the movies with him because of the playoffs. Seth had wanted to actually go out together, now that her faux-mance with Chadley was over and she wouldn’t get chewed out if they were spotted together too often. Jessica instead invited him over to her new penthouse to watch the game. Seth had figured the game would kind of be on in the background while they talked, or maybe even fooled around a bit. That theory went out the window when she didn’t even get off the couch to great him, just threw up a hand in a vague wave as she kept her eyes glued on her television.

“You missed kickoff. The Saints went three and out, but it’s still the Vike’s opening drive,” she said, barely acknowledging him when he kissed her on the cheek as he sat next to her on the couch. From that point on, Seth wasn’t even sure that she remembered he was there half the time. Basically anything she said was directed at the people on the TV, whether it be the coaches, the players, or the announcers, all of whom she referred to by name, like they were her close personal friends or her mortal enemies. It didn’t take long for Seth to learn that Mike Zimmer was a genius, Sean Payton was a smug asshole, and Joe Buck and Troy Aikmen were just the worst. It was only during the commercials that she would chat with him, but she mainly seemed to want to discuss the most recent plays, and as soon as the game was back on, her head snapped back to the TV, her attention completely focused on her favorite team.

Seth understood the basics of the game, run versus pass, how downs worked, turnovers, most of the penalties, that sort of thing, but after the first couple of drives, it was clear that he had almost nothing he could add to the conversation. Jessica was naming both offensive and defensive schemes, talking about things like “the slant” or a “double A gap” like those words were supposed to mean something to Seth. Meanwhile, the only player on the field he had heard of before today was Drew Brees, and he certainly wasn’t going to try to talk to her about the man she had just referred to as a “little punk ass ponzi scheme shill.” And that description was polite compared to the way she talked about the Saints coach, dropping more swear words in one description of him than he had heard her say the entire rest of the time he’d known her. So instead of saying something that would put _him_ in the hot seat, he just watched along with her, going to grab them new beers or some more snacks from her kitchen every so often. 

If was kind of fun, seeing this completely different side of her. She was loud, energized, and vibrant. Normally he was the one who would geek out about things, whether it be old-school B-movies, obscure video games, or TV shows with a niche cult following. But after the first quarter, it was clear that Jessica was a football _nerd_. The only thing he’d ever seen her close to this passionate about before was film, and that was her line of work. She was yelling at the Saints players whenever they committed penalties and dancing when the Vikings scored, and even Seth found himself cheering and exchanging high fives with her, her energy infectious. He quickly learned to keep his beer in his right hand, far away from Jessica, after she nearly knocked it to the ground when she went wild after one of the Vikings players picked off Brees.

She was in a great mood going into halftime. The Vikings were up 17 to 0 and their defense, which Jessica seemed to love way more than the offense, had two interceptions and a couple of sacks already. But after halftime, Seth felt the energy in the room start to shift. The Vikings offense stalled, the Saints scored a touchdown, and then Case Keenum, the Vikings’ quarterback, threw a bad interception. Jessica’s good mood was quickly evaporating with the Vikings' lead. By the start of the fourth quarter, she was twisting her hands around each other in her lap and chewing on her lip.

“Damn it,” she muttered, when one of the Viking’s players got pulled for an injury evaluation in that goofy looking blue tent on the sideline. “Not Rhodes. Shit.” Seth was going to ask her why losing that particular player was such a bad thing, but then the Saints scored again, bringing the score to 14-17, and Jessica let off a string of curses, rubbing her hands over her face.

“Hey, they still have the lead,” said Seth, placing a hand on her back, trying to be reassuring, but Jessica just shook her head, rolling her shoulders slightly. She clearly didn’t want him touching her right now.

“You don’t understand. The Vikings always choke. _Always_. They are gonna piss this away. We have a chance at a home Superbowl, and we’re gonna choke away a three score lead at home.”

Jessica’s prediction turned out to be right. The Vikings added a field goal, but then the Saints blocked a punt, something Seth didn’t even know a team could do, and turned that good field position into another touchdown. The Saints had the lead by one, and he thought Jessica was going to lose her mind. Her hands kept clutching at her cheeks and temples between plays, fingers twining together during the action. All the fun and joy of the first half was gone, replaced by pure anxiety and frustration. It was uncomfortable even sitting next to her. Seth wanted to tell her that it was just a game, but he was pretty sure that would get him kicked out of her apartment, if not straight up dumped on the spot, so he kept his mouth shut, praying that the Vikings might still pull off the win. He didn’t know how bad Jessica would be after a loss, but he was pretty sure it would ruin their entire night. 

Just when Seth thought it couldn’t get worse, the one announcer said, “I know Vikings fans don’t wanna see this, and they’ll blame me,” before showing a highlight package of Vikings missed field goal attempts from playoff games in years past.

“And those are just the kicks,” added the other announcer, “I mean, they’ve had some other devastating losses over the years in other ways.” 

“Oh just rub it in, you fuckers. Fucking Joe Buck and Troy Aikmen,” she growled. Before Seth could think of anything to say to her that would have any chance of calming her down, one of the wide receivers for the Vikings, Seth thought it might be Adam Thielen, made an impressive catch, and Jessica swung from annoyed anger to pure joy in a nanosecond, jumping off the couch and letting out a massive cheer. She stayed on her feet for the rest of the drive, holding her breath as she watched the Vikings kicker make a pretty long field goal to take a two point lead.

Seth thought Jessica would be overjoyed that her team was back on top, but she seemed stressed as ever when she sat back down.

“Uhh, not to bother you, but shouldn’t you be happier that your team has the lead?” Seth asked during the commercial break.

Jessica shook her head, “There’s too much time left on the clock and all they have to do is get to the 35 yard line or so. A field goal wins it.”

“But the announcers keep talking about how the Vikings are the best defense in the league.”

“Not this half, they aren’t.”

All Seth could do was sit there and watch as Jessica became more and more agitated as her prediction proved eerily accurate. When the Saints kicker drilled a field goal through with 25 seconds left on the clock, he dropped his hand to her knee.

“I knew it, I just knew it,” she moaned, dropping her face into her hands. “It’s over. One and done again.”

Seth knew better than to point out there was still time left on the clock. Even he knew that 25 seconds was not a lot of time to score.

The drive was off to a bad start when the Vikings got a penalty right away, but then they picked up about 20 yards on one play. Before Seth could even mention that maybe her team had a chance, Jessica was talking.

“Fuck, over the center of the field. Damn it, now we don’t have a time out left for the field goal even if we can manage to get into range. The Saints are just gonna cover the damn sidelines.”

The next play was an incomplete pass that left 14 seconds on the clock. As the Saints called a timeout, Seth’s mind started racing, trying to come up with the right thing to say when that clock ticked down to zero.

“ _Offer to get drunk with her. Or curse out the Saints and call them cheaters, she seems to do that often. No, just hug her. Don’t say anything. There’s not going to be anything she wants to hear from you._ ”

“And now ten seconds remain,” called out the announcer after another incomplete pass, “in what could be a heartbreaking loss for the Vikings, and a thrilling come-from-behind win from the Saints. Winner goes to Philly.”

Seth could tell Jessica’s heart was racing. As much as she claimed this was over, he knew part of her was still hoping for a miracle. Hell, even he felt nervous, and prior to today, he didn’t think he’d ever even seen a Vikings game. As the Vikings lined up and snapped the ball, he braced himself for the next play or two which would inevitably seal this as a loss. Case Keenum launched the ball into the air.

“Keenum steps into it,” said the announcer, “pass is CAUGHT! DIGGS! SIDELINE! TOUCHDOWN! UNBELIEVABLE! VIKINGS WIN IT!”

Seth watched in awe as a Vikings player not only came down with the ball, but somehow wasn’t tackled by any Saints player. Instead, he sprinted down the sideline and into the endzone as the clock hit zero, throwing his helmet off and holding his arms out in celebration to the crowd. It’s how he would have written the ending in a sports movie, but it was happening in real life. 

Jessica had somehow vaulted over her coffee table and was shrieking almost inhuman noises as she fell to her knees in front of her television. Seth, meanwhile felt glued to his spot on the couch, his jaw hung open in absolute shock as he watched the stadium turn to absolute pandemonium on the screen, fans going wild, players running all over the field, and the player who made that spectacular catch, Stefon Diggs, being completely mobbed in the endzone. He was pretty sure Prince’s _Let’s Go Crazy_ was playing at the stadium, but it was hard to make out between the cheers from the television and the insane shrieks coming from Jessica.

A loud buzzing noise attracted Seth’s attention. He glanced down and saw Jessica’s phone, lit up with “Dad” glowing across the screen.

“Jessica?” he said, standing up and holding out her phone, “It’s your dad.”

Jessica climbed across her coffee table, knocking over a bowl a tortilla chips in the process, grabbing her phone with one hand and flinging herself at Seth with the other, nearly tackling him to the couch with her enthusiasm. She clung to him as she swiped to answer her phone, her hand visibly shaking.

“Ahh, Dad!” she screamed into her phone, nearly painful for Seth as she was dangerously close to his ear, “I know!… I KNOW!… I thought so, too!… YES!…Yeah, I know!…Skol!”

As she began to recount the game with her dad, she unglued herself from Seth, sitting on the floor in front of her TV and watching the chaos and excitement unfold at the stadium. Seth couldn’t help it, the whole thing was so surreal that he just started laughing lightly. Things like this just didn’t happen outside of movies. Figuring that Jessica was going to be caught up in this excitement for a while, Seth grabbed the trash can from the kitchen and started cleaning up the mess of chips that Jessica had knocked everywhere. 

He had just about cleaned up all the scattered chips when he heard Jessica say “Oh, wow,” before she went silent. Seth glanced up he saw Case Keenum, a hero of a quarterback now, leading the entire stadium in the Vikings’ “Skol” chant. He sank onto the couch, watching in awe as the camera pulled back. He got chills, and it wasn’t even his team.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll let you go, Dad…. Yeah, I love you, too.” Jessica said before setting down her phone and joining Seth on the couch, curling her legs up underneath her body. “Can you believe it?” she asked, shaking his shoulder lightly.

“No,” he replied with a chuckle, “Why did they have another play there?” he asked, gesturing to the TV. After the cheer, Keenum had lined up and taken one more snap before kneeling down. Seth would have thought the game was over with the insane touchdown.

“They still had to either attempt an extra point or and two-point conversion after the touchdown,” she explained, “Diggs scored at the end of regulation, so it wasn’t sudden death or anything.”

“Why didn’t they just kick the extra point? Why kneel it?”

“Don’t want to risk a blocked kick that the Saints could try and run back or any injuries.”

“Interesting,” he said, nodding slightly. It was a lot more enjoyable watching the game with someone who would actually explain the little details to him.

“Thanks for cleaning up, by the way,” she said, gesturing to the coffee table.

“Of course, Iowa.”

“So, I’m gonna need you here next Sunday evening. You are clearly some sort of good luck charm.”

“Oh, I see how it is. All I am is some human prop for your football team,” Seth said dramatically, flinging his head back against the top of her couch in mock indignation.

Jessica grinned down at him, “Why else would I want you around? Seriously, though. You should come over next week.”

“Sure, why not? I managed to survive this game with you; I can probably handle another.”

“Oh no,” said Jessica, drawing her hand to her mouth, “Was I really that bad?”

Seth laughed, “Come on, you have to know what you’re like when you watch football.”

“I don’t know, I always watched with my dad growing up. I didn’t think we were _too_ crazy.”

He just continued to chuckle, watching Jessica clearly attempt to remember her actions over the past three hours, “Let’s just say that I’m pretty sure this afternoon was the equivalent of about 32 major life events. There was joy, despair, worry, frustration, anger, excitement-” he listed, holding up his fingers as he started counting off emotions in jest, but Jessica cut him off with a kiss.

“I’m sorry I was so nutty,” she said as she pulled away.

“Nah. It’s fine, Iowa. Like I said, it was like going through a bunch of life’s ups and downs all back to back. It’s kind of nice getting a little preview of what the _hell_ I’m apparently getting myself into.”

Jessica swatted him playfully, swinging her leg over his lap and straddling him. “There was one emotion I notice you didn’t list,” she said into his ear, grinding down against him.

“Seriously? _Football_ turns you on?”

“No, the Vikings _winning_ turns me on,” she replied, working her lips across his jaw, “Come on, Seth. Don’t you want to _celebrate_ with me?”

Groaning, Seth turned his head, capturing Jessica’s lips in a heated kiss, sliding his hands under her jersey and tugging it over her head. “I think I can definitely get on board with this whole football thing,” he said between kisses. Jessica laughed, clutching tightly to his shoulders as he stood up and made his way toward her bedroom, ready to start their own private victory celebration.


End file.
